Sykes Again Makes the Case for Judge-Only Trials

After four weeks of trial, with only closing addresses and the judge’s summation remaining, a jury had to be discharged. For Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, the incident captures why Jamaica must take another look at judge-alone trials.

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After four weeks of trial, that was it. It was just waiting for addresses and the summation to be done, but the jury had to be discharged.

“After four weeks of trial, that was it. It was just waiting for addresses and the summation to be done, but the jury had to be discharged,” Sykes said at the 2026 Legal Year Western Region Assize Church Service in Mount Salem, St James. His preference, when a jury is dismissed, is for the judge to deliver the final verdict rather than allow the case to drag on.

Sykes has repeatedly backed judge-alone trials as a way to reduce the backlog and protect the constitutional right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. He said the dependence on juries has affected St James, especially in murder cases, where finding people willing to serve remains a continuing problem.

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The judge was endeavouring to be as efficient as she could, actually running two to three trials at a time; and after four weeks of trial, for one of them, the jury had to be discharged.

There were 170 cases before the court during the last circuit. The figure represents more than 200 people because some cases involve multiple defendants, Sykes said. The delays also affect witnesses and relatives of people who died. In the case he cited, the judge had tried to work efficiently while handling two or three trials at once, but one jury still had to be dismissed after four weeks.

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Are we organising ourselves in a manner that justice can reach these 170 cases?

Under Jamaica’s Criminal Justice (Administration) Act, amended by the Jury (Amendment) Act in 2015, prosecution and defence must agree in writing before an offence can be tried by a judge alone. Sykes again pointed to a Privy Council opinion in the Adijah Palmer case, involving dancehall artist Vybz Kartel. In 2024, the court overturned Kartel’s murder conviction after finding that the trial judge had erred by allowing proceedings to continue with a juror who had tried to bribe other jurors instead of discharging the entire jury. Sykes said the ruling pointed to a way for a trial to continue before the judge if a jury must be discharged.

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We have to look again at the question of jury trials.